


you don't have to be okay

by FyreLily



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt Oscar Pine, Hurt/Comfort, I just think that penny and oscar should be friends, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mentioned Ruby Rose (RWBY), Oscar Pine Needs a Hug, Salem (mentioned) - Freeform, like actually im really sorry, tell me if i missed any tags pls, the writer is really sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27374746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyreLily/pseuds/FyreLily
Summary: Inside Salem's whale, in a cell with Oscar, Penny thinks.---I made this really short (although longer than I thought it would be) because I didn't want to go into detail since it's sad. I swear I have something that will hopefully turn out fluffy in the making.
Relationships: Oscar Pine & Penny Polendina
Comments: 6
Kudos: 57





	you don't have to be okay

**Author's Note:**

> remember to read tags! there is mention of farm boi being hurt in this and him being sad but penny gives him hugs. bc i said so.

Penny sits in silence, contemplating the predicament that she has found herself in. It is quite… irregular. At this time of day (night, her internal clock tells her) she would usually be doing a final patrol of Mantle, making sure that no Grimm have made their way into the city.

Instead, she finds herself  _ inside  _ of a Grimm. It is a large one, unrecorded in the Atlas databases. There are certainly large Grimm, such as Goliaths and Leviathans, but a Grimm of this size is quite unheard off. Penny will have to remember everything about it for when she gets back. 

Starting with the fact that it is habitable and has a throne room and prison cells. Perhaps this is not a natural Grimm.

Penny hears a noise from down the hallway, and she looks up. Although Salem and her forces have yet to interrogate or physically harm Penny herself, they have not been quite so kind to Ozma’s most recent reincarnation.

The black-haired villain that Penny identifies as Cinder Fall (it is unknown if this alias is her given name, research still ongoing) is dragging a smaller figure down the corridor, a look of triumph upon her face that instantly gives Penny some Personal Feelings. 

Oscar Pine stumbles along, his exhaustion plain as day to just about anyone. Cinder opens the cell door (it appears to be reinforced with some kind of magic that dictates that only Cinder or Salem herself can open it. Penny plans for further observations) and throws Oscar into the small room next to Penny. She smirks as he cowers, and walks off. 

Oscar pulls himself into a sitting position and curls into himself, his breathing shallow and his eyes watering. Penny gives him a quick scan. The boy is covered in little bruises and scratches, likely due to him being dragged around by Salem and her underlings. Usually, when he is returned to the cell that they share, he has a new burn or noticeable cut. This time, aside from the usual evidence of rough treatment and exhaustion, he seems fine. 

Penny frowns slightly and looks closer. No… no, he is not fine. His heartbeat is erratic and his breathing is irregular. Oscar rocks back and forth ever so slightly, his eyes closed tight. He seems to be on the verge of some sort of breakdown.

Ruby has told Penny of these sorts of things. For her, the events that she goes through are common and everyday things. Just because they make her upset does not mean that they last  ~~she hopes~~. But for humans such as Ruby and Oscar, these events have everlasting marks. Sometimes, they need help to recover from these things.

Once, in a moment of closeness, Ruby confessed to Penny about her very own everlasting marks, and those of her friends. Penny does not forget things, and she can recall Ruby explaining the result of Oscar Pine’s everlasting marks. He has nightmares almost every night, Ruby had told her with a sigh. The silver eyed girl thought of all of her friends as family, Penny had been told. It always made Ruby extra guilty when she saw Oscar suffering through a nightmare that she could not assist with.

Oscar, Penny has also been told, knows an unsettlingly large amount of breathing exercises, Ruby had said. He spirals sometimes, but he’s good at keeping it unnoticeable. That was what Ruby had said.

Now, Penny observes, Oscar does not seem to be keeping control of himself. He is shaking, and small tears are leaking out of his eyes. This is one of the moments that, despite all of her coding and skill and perfection, she is helpless. 

So, she does the one thing that she thinks could possibly help. 

“Oscar?” Penny asks. “Are you okay?”

The small farm boy looks up at her, startled. “What?”

Penny repeats herself, growing anxious. “I asked if you are okay.”

Oscar opens his mouth and closes it, then opens it again. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Penny frowns again. Why is he lying to her? Besides the obvious physical signs, she can clearly tell from his body language that he is not okay. So, she asks again.

“Are you sure?”

Oscar falters. “I… um, yeah. I really am fine, I promise.”

The Winter Maiden’s frown deepens. She will not stand for this. “Your heartbeat and breathing are clearly irregular, not to mention our current circumstances. You are  _ not  _ fine.”

Something behind the farmhand’s eyes just…  _ breaks _ . He covers his eyes with his hands and sobs, loud ugly noises that linger in the air.

Penny is not sure what the right thing to do in this situation is, so she does what her heart tells her to. She inches over to the crying child, and wraps her arms around him. He hiccups and curls into her, shaking and crying as loudly as before. This is a weakness in him that Penny has not yet seen before, but that’s okay. She rests Oscar’s head against her shoulder, wishing for just a second that she had soft flesh instead of hard metal so that he could be more comfortable. 

Here they are, in the biggest Grimm that Penny has ever seen or heard of, trapped inside a cell that should not be able to exist inside a living being, a cell that is controlled by magic. 

Here they are, trapped and isolated from the outside world, being preyed upon by people who work for the embodiment of evil. 

Here they are, at the mercy of Salem, the Queen of Darkness herself who wants nothing more than to destroy the world and hurt everyone that the boy in Penny’s arms loves. 

It is not at all an ideal situation. But both Penny and Oscar have died before, and come back even stronger, even more ready to fight for their world.

Penny leans down to Oscar’s ear and whispers softly: 

“It’s alright to not be alright.

“You don’t have to be okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! also im sorry to all of my friends who i ramble to about oscar and oscar angst at all hours of the day. i just. love him a lot. tell me if i have any typos or mistakes, and feedback is always appreciated! [You can find me on twitter @ sapphicscarlett](https://twitter.com/sapphicscarlett) or my [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/sapphicscarlett)


End file.
